Amit Segal on Egyptian warning drama: "Shock shock shock"

A dramatic reversal has upended Israeli media and the political world over the story of the "Egyptian warning" before October 7: following an exposé on Kan News, it has emerged that widespread reports of a secret visit by Egypt's intelligence chief to Israel days before the massacre were based on a serious factual error.

The private Egyptian plane that landed at Ben Gurion Airport did not carry Egypt's intelligence chief and did not arrive for an urgent security or diplomatic meeting, but rather carried only two businessmen, who landed in Israel for a brief stopover solely for technical refueling of the aircraft.

Following the disclosure, political analyst Amit Segal responded with sarcasm and disbelief: "So the whole story about the Egyptian warning is two businessmen who stopped to refuel?" Segal wondered. "All that fuss, the rumors, the investigations, the books, the warnings, the reactions, over this? Shock shock shock."

From dramatic emergency warning story to refueling stop

Segal's sharp response comes after recent weeks saw extensive coverage in Israeli and international media, led by an extensive lengthy investigation in The Atlantic magazine, claiming that approximately 11 days before the terror attack, Egyptian intelligence chief Abbas Kamel landed at Ben Gurion. The reports alleged that Kamel arrived for a secret emergency meeting and delivered a stark, explicit warning to Israeli officials that "Gaza is about to explode."

That report ignited a massive wave of political and media accusations, books and opinion pieces centered on the question of who in the security establishment and political echelon received the warning and ignored it.

But now it turns out the incident was a completely routine refueling stop by a civilian aircraft, which had nothing whatsoever to do with intelligence meetings or security warnings. The revelation, which casts the previous reports in an embarrassing light, has sparked a major storm among journalists and commentators, and has undermined one of the central narratives discussed in recent months.